People are social beings and for that reason, they require the support and relations of other people around. In addition, people need to be loved, accepted and respected by the society. Sociology helps us understand why people do what they do and explain the motives behind those actions. In return, understanding why people live that way helps scientists, economists, and many other to improve the quality of living by targeting specific groups and specific ideas.
The article speaks about the correlation between higher minimum wage jobs and high school dropout rates. Minimum wage workers used to represent a quite solid purchasing power until the year 1997. From 1997 to 2007, their purchasing power had fallen over by one fifth. Many advocated for the increase of the minimum wage arguing that it would improve quality of life for many and save them from poverty. After an outcry from the public, the federal minimum wage was set to increase for the next three years by an interval of seventy cents. Many did point out that despite the positive effects of increasing the minimum wage, many did suffer in finding employment. The reasons are due to teenagers’ parents educational attainments of different races and ethnicities. This proved that a simple solution actually did not solve everyones problem. Some benefited from it while others suffered. Educational attainment and income of their parents vary for various races and ethnicities. Thus, changes in the minimum wage carry different results for those various races and ethnicities.
The article focuses on whether increasing the minimum wage would have differing effects on high school dropout rates for students of various races and ethnicities (i.e. whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians). In order to conduct their experiments and conclude their hypothesis, Crofton et. al have used a panel of data from Maryland counties and
annual observations during 1993–2004. Several of their findings regarding the relationships of races and ethnicities between dropout rates and levels of education attainment among adults, income, unemployment rates, and minimum wage of resident in Maryland have concluded to be roughly consistent with other commonly sociological reported findings. These observations can be explained by the behavioral choices of groups of people of different races and ethnicities and the level of importance they place on cultural integration of recent immigrants, family traditions, value of education, small business ownership, and hourly vs. salary employment.
In their results, the article had found that whites and African-Americans had highest levels of educational attainment when compared to Hispanics and Asians. This is explained that Hispanic and Asian communities have much newer immigrant population and are yet to be assimilated. On the other hand Hispanic and Asian teenagers were more prone to dropping out of high school in higher income counties due to more available jobs for teenagers. Other findings concluded that Hispanic and Asian groups had lower unemployment rates than whites and African-Americans due to cultural values such as bigger family importance in their lives and focus on long-term financial stability. However, despite having such cohesive families, Hispanics and Asians share different reasons in drop outs and unemployment rates. For example, Asian families own more small business and their teenagers aspire for higher academic achievements thus they are not forced to leave their family circles to find employment and are more financially able. Unlike Hispanics, higher unemployment rates directly correlated with higher drop out rates.
Overall the study had found that higher minimum wages cause higher drop out rates in Hispanic groups more than in any other. Thus making them lose the most. Many factors affect Hispanic groups due to their families’, culture, and the knowing that Hispanic adults are more known for working hourly jobs than adults of other races and ethnicities.
Description of research methods
There are various research methods that be used in order to carry out a social research project. The method used in this paper was data collection and association of variables. Basically, the study collected data on various elements such as minimum wages, high school dropout rates, unemployment rates, high school graduates over age of 25, and teen pregnancy rates. High school dropout rates were collected for (whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians) for 24 Maryland counties during the 12 year period of 1993-2004. Average dropout rates were accounted for Asians at 2.09 percent. While Hispanics and African-Americans had the highest dropout rates, 5.21 and 5.23 respectively. And in between whites had 3.77 percent.
The federal minimum wage was defined as the key independent variable. The sampling periods used are several years before the increase in minimum wage, years of increased minimum wage, and years after. According to the reviewed literature for this study, the experiment involved multiple control variables. For example, they used several control variables such as the income rate, the unemployment rate, the teen pregnancy rate, and percent of high school graduates above the age of 25. The income variable accounted for long-term economic development in each county. People with high income spend more on services and good from business which increases number of jobs and thus highly likely to hire teenagers which in return increases the dropout rate. However, we can also argue that students from higher income or middle class families view education as a fundamental achievement for future higher income and decide to stay in school thus lowering the dropout rate. Teenage pregnancy is a big factor in high school dropout ratings. Having kids at a young age forces teenagers to abandon school and focus on earning. The above 25 and graduated variable correlates with low dropout rates as parents who have attained their educational status make sure their kids stay in school as well. All these variables and others such as population and population density were utilized in modeling. The experiment operated with a variety of models and specifications. Such as simple ordinary least squares and models that included annual and county dummy variables. They also tried various panel data techniques such as random and fixed effects. The experiments concluded to be robust across many specifications.
Description of findings
The study concluded as expected. Lower unemployment rates, higher teen pregnancy rates, and lower number of graduates in a population were associated with higher high school dropouts. Since the goal of the paper is how effects of public policies vary from races and ethnicities. From the regression models of African-Americans and whites, we can concluded that African-Americans are more sensitive to variable changes. For example, a 1% increase in graduates from high school decreases the dropout rates for African-Americans greater than for whites. The regressions for African-Americans and whites are similar unlike for Hispanics and Asians.
The regressions can be explained by common sociological explanations. Whites and African-Americans are less sensitive overall to changes in independent variable than Hispanics and Asians due to recent immigration, and cultural assimilation. Such weak cultural integration explains why Hispanics and Asians have higher dropout rates. Although they drop out more than whites and African-Americans they end up earning more in the long-term. The paper also concluded that Hispanics’ dropout rates are affected by many variables unlike Asians are affected by a few variables. As for unemployment variable, Asians dropouts are financially more stable in the long-term due to tight knit families that own and run small businesses unlike compared to whites and African-Americans.
Overall the study did not find the level of the minimum wage to affect dropout rates for overall whites, African-Americans, and Asians. However, the study found a large statistically significant relationship of variable with Hispanics that increases dropout rates. For example, a 25-cent increase in minimum wage increase the dropout rates for Hispanics by 0.55 percent. This relationship can be explained by two facts. Hispanics hold the most hourly paid jobs in the United States thus dropping out and finding a hourly job is not a problem for them assuming they view this a norm in their society. Second, Hispanics are more responsive to wider economic influences which in return causes them to dropout and search for jobs.
Importance of research
The research conducted by Crofton et al. describes the effects of increase in minimum wage in the United States on different races and ethnicities and their dropout rates from high school while explaining the results with common sociological explanations. Sociology has helped us better understand why people behave the way they do and how can we influence these outside factors to tend people towards better behavior. I believe the research conducted by Crofton et al. has shown that the Hispanics are more likely to dropout of school in seen an increase in minimum wage. This can be explained by several points. Hispanics have the highest fresh immigrant population. English is not their first language and their goals of success are different. Hispanics prefer earning money and helping their families than spending money and time in earning a degree which might result in unemployment and financial failure.
The importance of such studies is essential for the United States in terms of improving education and fighting dropouts. By understanding why students dropout and what makes them take such drastic actions, we can start formulating a solution to retain the students and in return have a higher graduate population, higher literacy rates, better jobs and qualified people that can earn higher salaries than those working on minimum wage. Although minimum wage jobs are necessary, they are not meant to be a means of financial source in the long-term. Thus, by focusing on eliminating factors such as improving english proficiency in the Hispanic population, and reforming immigration laws, the United States can help people avoid being stuck in the minimum wage cage and help them complete their education. Research such as this paper, often provide us with important statistics that help a nation grow and improve. It is not easy to study how human live and behave and understand why. The field of sociology has been greatly underrated for its findings and innovations. By funding more researches such as this, we will be able to better understand how each race, ethnicity, group, community, etc… functions and how to resolve issues that affect the nation as a whole.